Java Software Development Kit

SDK is the name for the set of Java software development tools, consisting of the API classes, a Java compiler, and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) interpreter, regardless of which version you use. Sun gives away the SDK for each edition, which has everything you need to compile and test programs. All the code in this book was developed with the J2SE SDK.

The SDK is a development environment for building programs using the Java programming language and includes everything you need to develop and test programs. The tools in the SDK are designed to be used from the command line. Although these tools do not provide a graphical user interface (GUI), the character interface is the way the evaluator is going to look at your project.

The J2SE 1.4 SDK is composed of core classes, tools categorized as basic (the compiler and runtime engine), Remote Method Invocation (RMI), internationalization, security, Java Interface Definition Language (IDL) and Remote Method Invocation over Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (RMI-IIOP), and the Java plug-in. For the assignment, you need the basic and RMI tools. All these tools are compiled to a specific OS (Windows, Unix, and Solaris), but most of them have equivalent functionality regardless of operating environment.

Each development tool comes in a Microsoft Windows version (Windows), a Linux version, and a Solaris version. You won't see any difference in features between the Windows and Solaris versions. However, there are differences in configuration and usage to accommodate each operating system's special requirements, such as directory separators. To see the individual tool documentation, go to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/tooldocs/tools.html and click the link next to the corresponding tool for your OS. The following SDK tools and parts are the ones you are most likely to use for the assignment:

• javac ” This is the compiler.

• java ” This is the launcher for Java applications.

• javadoc ” This is the API documentation generator.

• jar ” This is the archive tool to create Java Archive (JAR) files.

• rmic ” This tool generate stubs and skeletons for remote objects.

• rmiregistry ” This is the remote object registry service.

• policytool ” This is the GUI tool for managing policy files.

• Runtime environment ” This is an implementation of the Java 2 runtime environment found in the jre subdirectory, for use by the SDK.

• Source code ” These are the actual source files (src.zip) for all classes that make up the J2SE API (for example, source files for the java.* and javax.* packages). The source code is a wonderful educational resource. I've learned as much from browsing the source code as I have from any book. Notice that these files do not include platform-specific implementation code and cannot be used to rebuild the class libraries. To extract these files, use any common zip utility.

One of the tasks you must complete is replacing a few deprecated methods in the classes supplied in the assignment download. A deprecated method is one that Sun will not support in future releases. You can find these methods by compiling with the deprecation flag: javac -deprecation YourClass.java . It displays a description of each use or override of a deprecated member or class.